Thursday, November 18, 2010

WOOD, WOOD, AND MORE

A insisted upon ordering 10 tonnes of firewood because we found it at a good price. This morning it arrived! ON THE BIGGEST TRUCK YOU EVER SAW. The truck was so enormous it wouldn't fit under the powerlines, and it most certainly wouldn't fit under the car port, so the wood had to be dumped (in several loads) on the footpath and right out onto the road. A is currently moving wheelbarrow loads of it to the back of the yard. BUT, as with all good stories, there's a catch. The wheel barrow keeps breaking and having to have its' legs screwed on again. It's gonna take ALL DAY, and I mean ALLLL DAY to get it all in. It's just as well that A loves a challenge coz I'd have thrown my hands up and left it there before the wheelbarrow busted for the first time!

Yesterday was equally thrilling because our water went yellow. We called the water company and there was a guy here not half an hour later. He had a look at it and said that it was on our side of the meter so it was a plumbing problem and we had to get a plumber. He then suggested that A dig up all around the pipe and expose the area so that when the plumber came it'd cut down on labour cost. He said call him back if we had any trouble. After digging away for hours we encountered a problem, the pipe burst because it was so old and rusty and only the pressure of the soil against it was keeping it whole. So A was arse deep in a muddy hole frantically digging so that we could call a plumber. I suggested calling the water company guy coz he had said to call if we encountered any issues so we did. He said he'd come and help and sure enough, 10mins later he was here. He gave us the pipe measurements and we called the local hardware shop to see if they had the right size, they did but they'd just closed ... however they said to rush around and they'd help us. So, covered in cold caked on mud, A drove there at break neck speed and brought home the pipe ($25). Then the water guy showed up. He said it was definitely a plumbing problem and that he wasn't supposed to fix it. Then he said for us to ring the water company and tell them that there was water gushing out on the other side of the meter. Which we did. They called the emergency hours guy ... who was the man currently swimming in a freezing puddle of mud in our front garden, and lo and behold! He fixed it for the cost of two long necks of home brew! We must have saved about $1000 at minimum. He got paid overtime, we saved a shit load of money and our water is clear again. Can't complain about that, can we.

And while all this goes on, what we had actually hoped we'd be doing today and yesterday was assembling our green house! We decided to build our own in the end and all the material is lying dormant in the back garden waiting for a day free of drama. I can't wait to start planting some tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, coriander and a few other things better off in a green house.

About Me

We're a family committed to natural, non-institutionalised learning, at home! We love animals and gardening, and of course lots of other things too. Share the journey with us, as we work towards de-schooling ourselves and letting our children learn what they instinctively know they need to learn!